With the joy of seeing Petrol go up another 2p a litre this week (That's £1.20 more it's gonna cost this week to get to work !) what would be an economical car to purchase ?
Budget - £2k to £3.5k depending on the car
Must have 4 doors, Aircon and a decent Boot
Thinking of a Focus (although the Wife's 1.8 isn't very economical) as it has the above, no need to be any bigger than this to be honest.
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so thats 60 litres a week you are using, so we are looking at 400 miles a week plus?
A Diesel.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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VW Golf or Skoda Fabia TDI - the Fabia probably being the better bet as you'll get a newer one for your money.
Someone will be along in a moment and suggest a Citroen (Xsara) or Peugeot (306) or Renault (Megane) - all have good diesel engines and there are some good ones around, but it's more of a gamble as to whether you get a good one.
Japanese cars are more reliable but their diesels of the era in your price range tend to be noisy and unrefined.
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Get a 1.6 Focus and I think you could expect 35mpg in mixed driving with better figures on the motorway.
Blue
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Depends on how much you will lose trading in your present car; you may to do lots & lots of milage to make up that loss.
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Think about a 406 HDi saloon. Not much loved by the market, unlike the estate, but should give high 40s mpg.
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35mpg? Thats awful - my Mazda 323 averages 40mpg and thats 20 years old! Must admit, id love to try one of theose Honda Insights. they look fab if somewhat useless economy aside.
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Think about a 406 HDi saloon. Not much loved by the market, unlike the estate, but should give high 40s mpg.
Good choice, but don't get the earlier XUD engined version. I had one as a company car (the woefully underpowered 90 bhp version) and it would often only return high 30's mpg.
The HDi version is capable of staggering economy. A mate got over 800 miles out of a 70 litre tank of diesel when touring France once.
Nice to drive too, the 406. Beautiful ride quality and very comfy.
Cheers
DP
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Have been looking at the HDI models, Scanned through the Prices and noted that the 306 HDI is way overpriced, The Xsara HDI looks a bit dated and the 406 keeps coming back to me.
Wife has a Focus - Apparently it's the 1.8 version although the power of it feels like its a 1.6 (Insurance company said according to the Reg No. it was a 1.6 !) but it gives the economy of a 1.8 which she is getting just under 30mpg around town in.
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Anyone got any info on the early Focus Diesels in regards to MPG and performance ?
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MPG: Good
Performance: Bad.
It's not a terrible engine, but this is a relic of Ford's pre-PSA approach to diesels (ie do the bare minimum). Compared to the best of the day (1999/2000 VAG TDi 90/110's, PSA HDi, Renault dCi) it's rattly, unrefined and is by far the worst engine to go with the Focus. Ironically the 1.8 TDCi was the best IMHO.
That said, the rest of the Focus could win you over...
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Considered a SEAT Toledo TDi? I believe mss1w (sorry if that's wrong!) has one...
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Yes thought about the VAG group of Diesels but haven't seen many Toledo's
How much are the "better" Diesel Focus's selling for ??
An Advantage of the Focus is we have a rack and Roofbox for Wife's so new Focus Diesel would become Holiday car.
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I've got an earlier Focus with the tddi engine, and find the refinement and performance to be just fine.
I had discounted it when looking for a diesel, due to negative reviews, but after test driving a couple of examples I couldn't really see what the problem was. Fair enough, each to their own, but try for yourself to see.
Btw, I'm getting between 52-57mpg depending on the weather, length of trips, etc...
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Can you "chip" the TDI Focus ?
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yep, takes it from 90 to 110/115 bhp.
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Thinking of going for antoher Focus but prob the Petrol, The Diesel models are way overpriced and are even more than the newer Mondeo TDCI's
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